MaScout

scoutldr, you DON'T need the stress, but WE need YOU and people like you! I totally understand the frustration of being subjected to that type of disrespect for your volunteered time. However, there are a LARGE number of us out here and within your own council who look to you for wisdom and guidance. Please try to continue to fight the good fight. Take heart and don't leave us, please! Even though you don't often hear from them, be assured there a great number of people who appreciate you! Keep your chin up and know you are needed. Ma Scout

That's what we do, Acco. We date the achievement on the date it was completed, not the date we sign it off.

In the past, it was okay to handle your own elections. However, it is a new rule for this year, (and is supposed to be nation-wide) that you need to have the OA election team present for it to be a valid election. I don't know the reasoning behind this, but I do know it is a new ruling. That said, I would have a very serious talk about how you were relying on them, and the fact that there was not a team present falls on THEM, not your unit. You fulfilled your part in getting a quorum there. They failed to show up.

For what it's worth, my son wrote his essay about honor, then branched out from there. On the order of... "On my honor... and you can stop there, because all the rest follows." Then he listed some of the qualities he felt were most important, but came back to, "If you have honor, you cover all the rest." Something worked...he got into a Service Academy. If you are looking to an Academy now, you may contact my by pm and I would be glad to share critiques & advice that were helpful to my son.

The older boy patrol in our troop is tinkering with the idea of holding a "lock-out" this summer, during or close to a full moon (for light). Their idea is that it would be much like a lock-in, but instead, they would stay up most or all of the night playing night games like Capture the Flag and maybe geo-caching. What is everyone's take on this? What safety issues can you help me foresee? What fun activities might you suggest? How can we make this safer? I can see it has the potential to be a great deal of fun. However, when trying something new, it is often difficult to forecast the wrinkles! I'm all for supporting the boys with this idea, but also want to make sure we are SAFE. I think assuring activities are safe and mentoring/facilitating are two of the primary functions we have as adult leaders...

At least that is my understanding!

Creating a Hunting MB has been looked at closely by National...don't know if it made it through or not.

Our ceremonies team has us "cross your arms and in silence follow me". This doesn't really leave a way to carry a chair, unless it is in a bag. But we usually follow them quite a long distance, and taking a chair along just isn't done. I think setting a chair up would detract from the solemnity of the occaision. I believe some of the infirm have sat on a rock or such, but the standard set by the young adult members is that we stand.

To quote my favorite Vulcan, "SOMETIMES the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few..."

We do whichever works in the situation...it's good for the Scouts to see the adults "doing their own thing" & a chance for them to sample some different menus. It's also nice to eat with the Scouts. But Eamonn has a good point...sometimes the adults prepare the food for the boys. I remember in particular a time when the troop wanted to build a bridge for our local Scout Camp. They worked HARD from sun-up to sun-down. They were breaking out rocks with pick-axes, etc. As we watched their selfless labor, those of us with less skill in this area went, "Hm", checked their chow boxes, and had supper ready when they came back to camp. Those boys expected to come back & fix their meal after a hard day's work, but boy were those broad smiles worth it!

While technically the Arrow of Light is a Pack ceremony and the Bridging is a Troop ceremony, if this can be done in unison it is soooo much nicer for the BOYS. I agree, it is a ceremony to be agreed upon by the CM & SM. If you can incorporate the other boys, that is awesome. It will speak volumes about maturity. Would it be possible to have a Pack ceremony the day or week before, then continue with the planned bridging at the camp out? Or is this just opening another can of worms? Our Pack & Troop have held the ceremonies separately when there was "bad blood" or the Pack leadership didn't get their act together or didn't make an awesome plan. But it seems quite disrespectful to the troop who has made special plans for the bridging to say no at this late date... Who are the children here?

I realize that it takes a lot of money to keep Scouting going. We are very creative in how we help our young men afford Scouting. OGE mentions that we don't often hear about the high cost of trips like Philmont... The primary reason is that troops from economically depressed areas simply DO NOT participate. They can't afford to. The once every 10 years that they do, they apply for camperships, and save for it for several YEARS. But mostly...we just don't go. Summer camp is much the same...we save for a couple years to be able to afford to send them ONE year. Often, we still need to apply for financial assistance.

What about doing some things with map & compass? They could make "spyglasses"...either telescopes or those dealy-ma-boppers that let them see around corners. Set up a "crime scene" and have them look for clues...like a chair with footprints, a piece of hair, finger prints, etc. This is just a start...you could have a blast with this. I believe the Program Helps several years ago had some ideas on this, too...maybe check with some of your expereinced leaders and see if they have a copy of that.

We live in a severely economically depressed area. We have Scouts whose parents DO NOT drop that kind of money on activities. If there is much cost involved, the youth DO NOT participate! We have a problem with uniform cost, too. We run annual "uniform drives", purchase every inexpensive Scout shirt we find at thrift shops, buy them at auctions, etc. We, too, only ask for a shirt. I have bought some shirts myself. We have a program through our District called "Scoutreach", and they have provided shirts for us. I have asked people in the community if they would consider purchasing a shirt for a lad. All we ask is that they give them back to the pack or troop when they leave. The camping gear we NEVER purchase through the Scout Shop or catalog. But we have a very hard time with the uniform costs. For those of you who who think it isn't really a problem, consider the single parent raising 5 children on $800 per month, or less. YES, it IS a problem. A very BIG problem! These youth don't play school sports unless we (the other parents) make sure they have "experienced" cleats, loaned horns, etc.

Is your pack busy during the summer? That's when we do a lot of our REALLY fun stuff! Certainly have the boys invite a friend when practical. To wind up the summer, we usually have a fun night...go to a local park, cook hotdogs, and play fun games -- obstacle courses, water balloon volleyball, things like that. For this one, we strongly encourage boys to bring a friend. We also announce it in our local paper...depending on town size, this may not be advisable. We recruit a lot of boys at this. Sometimes they are just riding their bicycle past and ask if they can stay and play...then end up joining!

You should also salute when the flag passes as in a parade. But this means we should already be saluting/hand over heart when it passes us at a den or pack meeting, too. Other times to salute: when the colors are raised or lowered, as a flag-draped coffin is passing, when "Taps" is sounded at a funeral. (Per BSA publication 33188, for those who want to know where I found this.)

A washable gluestick works great for patch placement, too. Then you don't have to worry about holes or tape removal. Just glue the patch in the right spot, sew it on, then the glue comes off in the first wash.

The small pad is the way to go...my oldest is in one of the Service Academies, and he is able to stow it in his computer case, just in case he finds a place to sneak a quick catnap, and not worry about how hard it is. Aaah, the things we learn in Scouts!

Swilling is the time-honored tradition of adding a little water to whatever is left in the pot or in your cup, swishing it around, and drinking it. Nothing left to run through the sump, no wonderful little tidbits to put in the "yum-yum bag" and pack out.

They were crazy & scary. Initially, we were told we don't hold any "closed meetings", so it should be open to them. They were no longer on the roster, but were still members of the CO, so claimed interest. However, it got so extreme that at one com't mtg we had the DE, COR, IH, and UC attend to see what was going on. They had a meeting with the offending/offensive couple and very politely told them to "butt out"...thank goodness! How did we know that ahead? We didn't. But there ARE other than altruistic reasons for wanting to stay in, even though the vast majority are there for the right reasons.

Cabela's has some really awesome 3/4 backpacking Thermarests...they compress down really small and don't hardly weigh anything.

Eagledad's question got me to thinking...just as an adult is not to do a SM Conference or BoR for his/her own son, we don't allow a parent to sign off on rank requirements...it is simply bad form/bad policy. (And we HAVE had "dishonest" parents when it comes to completing the requirements!)

With the efficacy of so many Districts/ Councils, ours hadn't even heard of this until we brought it to their attention several years ago. We had to tell them the catalog # to use to order the correct ribbon, so don't be surprised if you encounter the same thing if it hasn't been promoted in your area.

I did say if the SM was the ONLY one...that would mean the other adult leaders weren't signing either. I also mentioned that if there are youth signing off, they needed to be tested, impartial,... I'm not saying they should do all of everything at every level. But the more senior Scouts with the proper training certainly should be able to test in some of the initial ranks.

Issues of control. Issues of manipulation. Yes, these and more DO occur in Cub Scouts. It galls me all the adult politics that go into Boy Scouts... We had a family whose children were out of Cub Scouts and they moved 200 miles away. They still came back for committee meetings and to stir up trouble... They were off the roster, but had friends in the unit, and stirred up a passle of bad feelings & animosity.